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2.8.18

BUG HOTEL - a story in a hundred words


BUG HOTEL

After a week of unidentifiable noises from the garden shed, the hotel appeared overnight.
Word spread quickly and the bugs moved in – slugs and snails occupied the ground floor, woodlice and ants, beetles and flies took over the middle, and within days the top floor housed a burgeoning colony of bees.
They crept, scuttled and flew, mated and reproduced, and all the while Shirley lurked in the shadows, biding her time, guarding her nest.
Then her babies hatched – an instant army which spread, with inborn skill, a silken sheet over the entire structure.
The bug hotel had become a larder.
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Last week was the first time I have missed a Friday Fictioneers prompt in several years, but I have a valid excuse - we are moving! A local Trust has offered us the tenancy of a delightful terraced cottage and, having given a month's notice on the flat we've lived in for three years, we are in the throes of bringing a 170 year old property up to a livable standard. The previous tenants did some work in it, some of which is useful and some of which is unsafe.
SO we have a lot to do in a few short weeks.
This week's prompt photograph - thank you Sandra Crook for the photo and Rochelle for hosting FF - is a great template for a smaller version I plan to install in my first garden for years, but also brought to mind what I found when I tried to read the gas meter!
Meanwhile, thank you to the seven people who have bought my book Helter-Skelter so far. I have acquired one 5* review, which is a start :)  Please click on the book cover at the top of this page to visit my Amazon page and buy your own copy - I have a cottage to furnish!

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30 comments:

  1. Susan A Eames02/08/2018, 13:34

    Oh crumbs - those other bugs are in for a nasty shock... as no doubt you were when you tried to read that meter! Happy Moving day. :)

    Susan A Eames at
    Travel, Fiction and Photos

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. liz young02/08/2018, 17:54

      Thanks Susan - we're not actually moving for another month, just paying the bills while we renovate!

      Delete
  2. Iain Kelly02/08/2018, 13:37

    I believe spiders would be this scheming, I put nothing past them!

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  3. Neil MacDonald02/08/2018, 13:53

    I like the absence of sentimentality in this

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    Replies
    1. liz young02/08/2018, 17:54

      Thanks Neil - I think!

      Delete
    2. Anonymous03/08/2018, 09:52

      Never trust Shirley the Spider - but on the other hand she has a family to feed :) Your own new home sounds challenging but wonderful. Jilly, Sugar on the Bee

      Delete
    3. liz young03/08/2018, 19:15

      One is either hunter or prey in their world.

      Delete
  4. Jennifer Kennedy02/08/2018, 20:12

    I love how the spider waits and then takes over! Great story. Best of luck in your new home! I've always loved the idea of a cottage, but I imagine a lot of work may come with it :)

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    Replies
    1. liz young02/08/2018, 22:12

      Thank you Jennifer, and yes, there's a lot of work involved.

      Delete
  5. plaridel03/08/2018, 03:02

    a well-laid out plan i suppose and it worked. too bad for the bugs. :)

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  6. Penny Gadd03/08/2018, 13:56

    Well conceived, nicely constructed and fluently told. Good story, Liz! It's hard not to think spiders are plotting when we see them sitting so patiently in a dark corner, isn't it?

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    Replies
    1. liz young03/08/2018, 19:13

      Thanks Penny - creatures that can construct such complicated webs must have a brain of some kind I think.

      Delete
  7. Rochelle Wisoff-Fields04/08/2018, 13:17

    Dear Liz,

    And so goes the food chain.

    Best wishes on the move.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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  8. liz young04/08/2018, 14:24

    You are so right - I wonder how many steps before we are, like the old lady, eating that spider?

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  9. Sandra Crook04/08/2018, 14:33

    Cunning plan. Good luck with the move.

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  10. Dawn04/08/2018, 16:15

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Dawn04/08/2018, 16:16

    That Shirley, such a spider! (I don't care for them much either). :)

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    Replies
    1. liz young05/08/2018, 07:51

      She did have strong maternal instinct though! (

      Delete
  12. draliman05/08/2018, 11:12

    Yeek, poor bugs. Nature takes its course.

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    Replies
    1. liz young05/08/2018, 13:23

      Indeed, though it is hard to get too upset about a woodlouse.

      Delete
  13. Dale05/08/2018, 19:26

    I love this take on the prompt! Larder indeed...

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  14. brudberg05/08/2018, 20:44

    Ouch... that's one devious larder... just takes some webbing.

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    Replies
    1. liz young05/08/2018, 21:46

      Judging by the intricate web in my meter box, that's not too difficult to produce.

      Delete
  15. lisarey1990@gmail.com08/08/2018, 11:39

    A shock is in store for the bugs!

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  16. Patsy08/08/2018, 16:41

    Crikey. I've built my own bug hotel, but not with the intention of supplying myself with snacks!

    Hope all goes well with the moving and you're soon happilly settled in your new home.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Marion Clarke10/08/2018, 20:55

    Ha! It's a dog eat dog world :)

    ReplyDelete

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